Cadence: A Tale of Modern Faery
by BeautifulMonstrosity
Summary: All the main characters come back in a story set after Ironside. Talathian gains control of Seelie Court. Moon in a Cup is open. Featuring Kaye/Roiben, Luis/Corny, and Val/Ravus goodness. Read & Review! UPDATED: CHAPTER THREE
1. Prelude: i dance with the dead

**CADENCE: A TALE OF MODERN FAERY**

_prelude: i dance with the dead  
_

The drums pounded out a heartbeat as the night smothered the land like a blanket. Darkness was a sweet escape from any late night wanderers. An owl hooted softly, but it went unheard as screams and chants drowned out everything else. Small fights had broken out in some places – after all, the wine flowed freely at any faerie revel – but most of the crowd eagerly watched the green-clad figure on the hill.

Talathian watched the ocean of fey beneath him, clamoring to get nearer their chosen leader. A bark of laughter escaped him as he surveyed his new lands. It was all his now. Almost one year of planning and preparing later, the Seelie Court was his.

He would avenge his queen.

Slowly, the crowd organized themselves, settling into lines. Faerie after faerie came forward to kneel before him, whispering vows of loyalty. Once it had been he who was forced to lie before that foul traitor Roiben, but never again would that happen. As his court moved back once again, he stepped forward. Moonlight glinted off his sharp features and his moss green cloak swirled behind him. Everyone fell silent, watching the one who held them.

"My friends…my people. Today is the beginning of a new era, and we must welcome it in! We have been oppressed and loathed by those invaders – those Unseelie! However, now the world is ours! The Seelie Court is ours once again! Lady Silarial shall not have died in vain! Shall we settle for what we had before? No! Even the Unseelie Court will fall before us now!"  
Cheers rose up and more fighting started with an outburst of angry passion. Talathian smiled, cold and cruel, nodding with pleasure. This was his day and nothing could change it. Revenge was a wonderful thing.

He clapped sharply once, watching as three fey stepped forward, dragging another with them. One of the two was tall and broad, with bark for skin and fern-like hair, while another was slender with pale blue skin and hair. The third stood a distance off from the first two, and it was to her that Talathian looked. Her black hair came down to her waist, and fell into her face to hide violet eyes. When she opened her mouth to speak, her slightly pointed teeth shone.

"Here he is," she murmured, gesturing to the faerie man the other two held.

The crowd roared with delight, chanting and screaming. The dark-haired girl smirked, nodding to Talathian and stepping back down into the masses. The other two fey shoved the man they held forward, chuckling.

Talathian smiled down at the bloody back and silver head that were beneath him. Slowly the faerie man rolled over to glare at him, platinum eyes fierce.

"You won't get away with this. You can never hold both courts."

With a widening smile, Talathian lightly kicked him. "Why, I'm sure I can manage it. You did, for a while. And this time your pixie girl will not save you, O Lord Roiben. You've failed."

And the faerie revel continued loud and long, until the night was all but gone.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This would come almost a year after Ironside in the series timeline, which is fairly obvious. This is my first venture beyond a oneshot, and I already have several chapters written. I'll post these gradually - once a week? every other week? - which will allow me to keep writing new ones while always having material waiting. I know this 'chapter' is a little short, but it's only a prelude and the rest are close to twice as long on average. Please read and review, and feel free to offer plenty of criticism; no one besides me has gone over this, and I would appreciate it if people could point out grammar mistakes. If there's anything else I can work on, mention that! I love specific reviews! Also, I'll go ahead and get this out of the way so my later ANs can be shorter: all chapter titles and the title come from the song "Cadence", by Anberlin. Personally, I like the acoustic version, and I think the lyrics fit the Faery series well. That's why this is a prelude instead of a prologue (the music theme). So all my titles belong to Anberlin, just like Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside belong to Holly Black (this is a disclaimer, by the way. don't go sueing me).


	2. Chapter One: how it can be

**CADENCE: A TALE OF MODERN FAERY**

_chapter one: how it can be_

Val had decided that coffee was far more powerful than any faerie glamour.

Coffee was good, and strong, and fierce, and tasty, and very real. It made Val think of Ravus. It also kept the cold away. Right now, Val preferred it for the latter. The roof of her mouth was burnt, and Luis was grumbling that she was wasting coffee that could have been sold, but whatever. Customers were leaving, and it was Friday, and the sun was setting, and soon Ravus would be there. Life was good.

Val really liked coffee. And Ravus.

Yes, these were the sort of deep thoughts she pondered over as she sat on the counter at Moon in a Cup – her friends Luis, Corny, and Kaye's coffee shop, and Val's usual get-away – and drank all the coffee she could get away with. She was finishing the last drop of her current cup, when Luis came out of the office in the back, looking tired but amused.

"Is that your fifth cup?"  
Val stuck her tongue out at him. "S'only my third."

"You won't get any sleep tonight," Luis said, "Maybe you should donate some caffeine to Ruth."

"Probably." Val hid a smile as she looked at her best friend. Ruth was apparently trying to sleep on the other side of the front room, her face pillowed on a textbook. "Is cramming supposed to make you pass out?"  
Luis shrugged. "I think so. Shouldn't you know?"

"Uh…yeah. Funny story there." Studying for exams hadn't been one of Val's highest priorities lately.

"Why go to college if you don't care?"  
"I do care!"

Luis rolled his eyes, leaning against a cabinet as he studied a page torn out of a notebook. "Whatever."

Val frowned at her coffee cup. Ignoring school had become a bit of a habit since her experience the year before. It wasn't that big of a deal, though.

The bell over the door rang, announcing a new arrival. "Hey, guys."

Val and Luis looked up to see Corny walking in, proudly holding up a bag of Chinese takeout. "I got food!" he announced.

Luis grinned, shoving the paper into his pocket and vaulting over the counter to give Corny a one-armed hug. "Hey."

"Don't crush the food," Val grumbled, "I don't want my egg rolls flat."

"Where's Kaye?" Corny wondered, setting the bag on a table.

"Bathroom?" Luis suggested, tugging one of the boxes out. He dropped down into a booth, investigating Corny's choices. "Dammit, where's the fortune cookies?"

Corny sat down beside him, shrugging, as Kaye's voice informed them that no, she was _not_ in the bathroom. He had given up on fortune cookies after the last time: Luis had received a fortune that read 'Fortune will knock on your door', while Corny's had read 'Fortune will doorbell ditch you, you stupid pig'. That had been enough to turn him off of fortune cookies. "I gave them to a hobo. Sorry. I didn't think anyone would want them. Here, I got your favorite."

Luis sighed, already cramming chow mein in his mouth. "Can't beiweve 'ou. Givin' my fo'tune to a 'obo."

Val snickered. "How does an oboe eat a cookie, now?"

The bell over the door rang again, and a young faery man with dark hair and gold eyes peeked in. "I'm sorry if I'm late, but the sun just went down."

Val yelled with delight, jumping out of the booth to tackle Ravus in an embrace. "I missed you today! I'm sorry I didn't get by to see you!"

He smiled, kissing her cheek. "It's fine. I'm here now."

"Look, we have Chinese. Have you eaten?"

A fully glamoured Kaye came out of the office, grinning. "Yay, Chinese!"

"Corny gave away the fortune cookies," Luis told her, having finished his first bite.

"What?! What were you thinking?!" Kaye paused, considering a question that had bothered her for years. "Are they really cookies? I mean, they're not thick…and they don't have chocolate chips in them…."

"There are other types of cookies, Kaye."

"Like biscuits."

"That's just another name. Besides, you have to say it with a British accent to be a cookie. What about scones? Or biscotti?"

"Scones? No. And is that the plural form of biscotti?"  
"Sure, like platypi. Or octopi."

"Isn't it platypuses?"

"Actually, I heard that it was platypodes." Val was pretty proud of herself with that one.

"It's not like octopi at all. Biscotti is the actual word. It's more like moose."

"When did biscotti come into it? And is it a biscotti, or just biscotti?"

"I believe it came from the cookie discussion."

"What _is_ biscotti? I thought you guys were just saying biscuit like idiots."

"Guys, food is getting cold! Eat it. Now!"

"Hey…someone say take-out?" A sleepy looking Ruth wandered over, rubbing at her eyes, the shapes 1 HTAM printed her cheek, remains from her 'pillow'. "Can I have the fortune cookie? Those things are snazzy…."

Val burst out laughing, shaking her head as she whacked Luis with a chopstick. Yes, life was very good right now.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well, this is a far different style from the prelude, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! There wasn't much to describe here - more dialogue instead of me trying to keep you interested with nothing going on, so that makes a difference. Also...I left most of the dialogue near the end 'untagged' (unlabeled? I don't know. But you know what I mean) because it made me laugh to imagine who was saying what. This is on purpose. Really really.  
Now that I'm done explaining things you probably figured out, write me a review, okay? Because I appreciated all the reviews last time SO much. Thanks, guys. Enjoy.


	3. Chapter Two: your touch

**CADENCE: A TALE OF MODERN FAERY**

_chapter two: your touch  
_

Corny really, really hated Mondays. Nothing ever went right, and everything he did fell apart. Today was a prime example of a horrible Monday. 7 a.m., and he wanted to be back in bed already.

"That's a lot of blood."

"Yeah." Luis tossed a mop at Corny, who half-heartedly grabbed at it before letting it fall to the ground. "Help me clean it up."

"No way," Corny grumbled, but he picked up the reddened mop, and tried to look like he was helping. "Lucky Kaye, off with her emo prince boyfriend, and I'm here wiping the floor."

"Oh, stop complaining," Luis said, surveying the much cleaner coffee shop. "We're about done. C'mon, time for the first caffeine high of the morning."

Corny turned to the unmoving girl who watched them. "Coffee?"

She shrugged, rolling over to study the wall as if it were far more interesting than the boring blue it was.

"Well...when you start to feel better, you can leave. Really." Corny wanted some time alone with Luis before the day began in full, but his not-so-discreet hint just earned him another shrug.

"Don't rush her. She just puked up a whole lot of blood. That was one hell of a curse."

They both shuddered, exchanging glances. When you got on the wrong side of the fey, you could be in a lot of trouble.

When Luis and Corny had arrived at Moon in a Cup this morning, they hardly had time to unlock the doors before the girl had come stumbling up. From the look in her eyes, she clearly wanted more than a latte, but seemed unable to speak. Every time she opened her mouth, blood came out instead of the words. It was a serious curse.

Most of the regular solutions – salt water, certain plants, and magical knots – had not worked, which left the simplest and most unpleasant solution: iron. No one would willingly swallow iron. However, Luis forced a handful of iron fillings down her throat. She gagged, swallowed, and threw up for the next ten minutes.

Problem solved.

It had been a half-hour. She was now curled up in a booth, draped in Luis' jacket, half-lidded dark eyes dancing around her dull surroundings. One hand came up, silencing a yawn. Luis strode over to sit beside her, giving the girl an encouraging smile.

"How're you doing?"

A third shrug.

"Any better, at least?"

Shrug and slight nod.

"Do you think you'll talk anytime soon? It would be useful for us if we could know your name and some other confidential information for our records."

"Lll...." She frowned, struggling to form the sounds that had once been so familiar. "Lleeigh…?"

"Is Leigh your name?"

She sighed happily, relieved to talk again. "Yea…yes. Yes."

"Well then, Leigh, if you could fill out a paper for me, you're free to go wherever."

Corny dug up some sheets of computer paper, which he left at the table along with a cup of coffee. Leigh gave him a strange look, and it was his turn to shrug. "I thought you might be thirsty. I didn't poison it or anything. Really."

After showing her what to fill out, Luis stood up to go get some coffee of his own.

He tried not to laugh when he distinctly heard her mutter, "Fucking paperwork."

The day passed the same as usual after that first experience. Early morning customers were either unsuspecting humans on their way to work, or fey and humans with faery problems who wished to come during a less crowded time. Later in the day, the majority of the customers came in, and by nightfall, it was mostly their group of friends and the occasional other patron.

A surprise came later in the day when Leigh, after seeming antsy and uncomfortable for quite a while came up to Luis and asked if they were hiring. They weren't. She got the job anyway.

Tonight it was just Val, Luis, and Corny lounging around and drinking obscene amounts of coffee. Kaye was off at Court with Roiben, fulfilling her promise to spend half her time there and half her time Ironside. Ravus had been 'busy', and that had remained his answer no matter how much Val had pleaded with him that afternoon.

"Where's Ruth?" Corny asked. Although he hadn't been sure of Luis's friends at first, he genuinely liked both Val and her best friend now, and was glad that their two circles had mixed through Luis.

Val grimaced. "Off with The Bitch."

Luis smiled and shook his head. Most of the time Val was pretty easygoing, but her opinion of Ruth's girlfriend tended to be extreme. He thought she was jealous because 'The Bitch', otherwise known as Karen, meant that Val got less of her friend than she usually would. Still, he liked his head where it was and would avoid getting it bitten off as long as he could, and hadn't pointed that out yet. "You're in a bad mood," he teased.

"Whatever." She tried to balance a salt shaker on the grains she had poured out, a trick he had been working on for a while.

"Lonely?"

"Yes! I miss Ruth, but she's off fucking my worst enemy. And I miss Ravus…I haven't seen him in two hours. Even Kaye's gone. Now here I am, talking to you two, and I went to bed at midnight and I woke up at four and I didn't have breakfast and I blew up my microwave and I can't get the damn salt to stand up!"

"I think you need to get some sleep. Home. Now." Luis guided Val over to the door. "See you tomorrow, okay?"

"'Kay…," she mumbled, letting him push her outside. "Bye…."

Luis yawned and locked up before leaving himself, followed by Corny. They made their way back to the apartment they shared with Kaye – paid for the next six months in advance with leaves glamoured to look like money.

With a groan, Luis collapsed on the couch, running a hand through his hair. He directed a tired smile at Corny.

"One hell of a day we had."

Corny nodded his agreement, sitting down on the other end. "Time to wind down, I guess."

"It's nice to be alone."

"Yeah, I guess it is kinda –"

His thought flew out of his head as Luis's perfect lips pressed to his, Luis's perfect arms wrapped around him, and Luis's perfect hands slid down his back.

As his jeans fell down around his legs, Luis broke their kiss long enough to whisper in his ear.

"Love you."

"Uh-huh...." Oh god, he loved Luis.

And one more surprisingly perfect Monday could be checked off the calendar.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Ohmigawd. I've been gone for months. I'm so beyond sorry, you guys. First there were exams, then Christmas, then me just being lazy. Over break I wrote a few more chapters though, and even though this chapter is pretty bad (I rewrote the entire thing a few minutes ago) the others should be received well. I ended up cursing more than usual in this chapter, but my thought was that if you've actually read the books, you shouldn't mind. And...some Luis/Corny. I love them. So, updates should be regular from now on, and please don't forget about me! Review?


	4. Chapter Three: i have become so helpless

**CADENCE: A TALE OF MODERN FAERY**

_chapter three: i have become so helpless_

Kaye knew something was wrong the moment she arrived at the Unseelie Court. Her Roiben was nowhere to be found. She saw only a glimpse of a faery rushing around a corner, but they paid no heed to her calls and quickly vanished. Everything was too dark and silent, too still….

Sure, it was a cave full of evil monsters under a cemetery, but it wasn't _that_ kind of dark.

"Roiben?" She wondered aloud, her voice echoing back to her in a way that nearly made her jump. Never before had she found the entire main chamber so eerily empty like this. Kaye dropped the final traces of the glamour she had used to make her way here unnoticed, and the smell of old blood flooded her faery senses. She warily moved into a side hall, heading towards Roiben's chambers. Explanations danced through her mind, though her current state of mind led to the most reasonable reason being that it was National Faery History and Appreciation Day Throughout the Western Hemisphere, or Hanukkah, or something that had all the fey out partying.

"Roiben?" Kaye asked again; despite her voice being no more than a cracked whisper, it seemed far too loud as it reverberated over and over again. The echo magnified his name a thousand times over, turning it into a cruel sneer, mocking her. No answer came to her plea. It didn't matter—she wouldn't have been able to hear it over her pounding heart. She swallowed hard, unable to keep from running the rest of the way down the hall, skidding to a stop at his door. Kaye struggled to calm herself. _Don't be so immature_, she admonished, _he'll just tease you for it, and call you a silly girl, because everything will be fine, and you'll feel bad, but then he'll kiss you and everything will be better because everything is _"FINE!". The last word in her wildly careening train of thought burst out of her mouth in a yelp, and once again she flinched at her own voice.

Giggling nervously, her nails digging into her palms, she took a second to relax, before unclenching her fists. She began to push the thick door open a crack at a time.

"Oh, Kaye…."

With a joyous shout, Kaye flung the door open the rest of the way. That was her Roiben!

It wouldn't be until far later that she remembered how anguished he had sounded, the cloaked sorrow in his horse voice. By then it wouldn't help her.

Now, all she could think of was seeing him again. As she dashed into the room, she saw the gorgeous features and silver hair of her lover, but she also saw the armed fey surrounding him.

"Oh, Kaye," he whispered, "You shouldn't have come, love."

Before Kaye could react, she had been thrown to the floor, and shackles were clamped onto her wrists. She tasted blood in her mouth as her head smacked against the stone floor. In an instant she was fully tied up, on her knees by the chair Roiben was strapped to. A blond faery stepped out from behind a screen, smirking. His sharp features were handsomely cold and calculating as they studied Kaye.

"My, my, it looks as if we've caught ourselves a tricky little pixie."

"Talathian," Kaye spat.

"Give the girl a prize. So you remember me, my dear. That is a bit useless, all things considered, but at least it saves me from having to monologue." He chuckled at his own joke, pacing in front of the fallen leader and consort.

"You bastard! What the fuck is going on here?"

"Oh my. Your mother didn't teach you those words, did she?" Talathian chuckled again, shaking his head. "Of course, you'll never see the stupid human you claim as a parent again. What a shame."

Kaye snarled, fighting the bonds glamoured to hold her no matter what. "Shut up! What – I don't –" Her voice was cut off as a dirty piece of cloth was stuffed into her mouth to gag her.

_Goddamn_, she thought viciously, _I should have known the fey didn't celebrate Faery Appreciation Day._

On the front stoop of a New York apartment, a teenaged girl in a gaudy coat finally pulled away from a kiss with another young woman, waving a goodbye as the other began to make her way home. The girl made her way upstairs, fumbling with a ring of keys for a second before letting herself in. She heard snores from the futon, and carefully made her way around it. Narrowly avoiding stepping on the girl on the mattress on the ground, she collapsed onto the other mattress, not bothering to undress. A muttered complaint rose from beside her, but she ignored it, grabbing a handful of blankets and yanking them over her.

"Did I wake you up?" she asked, poking the body beside her with a foot.

"Shuddafukup," the would-be sleeper growled, trying to whack her best friend with a pillow. "Dunseewhyyewhaftobeoutscrewin'tilltwointh'mornin'."

She snickered and pulled a pillow over her head. "Shush. Some people are trying to sleep."

The four young people in the apartment slumbered until a pleasantly late morning, all positive that Kaye and Roiben were in a bed together at that exact second.

That wasn't quite the case.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Don't eat me. I'm back. I've been...busy, with life and relationships and idiots. But I think I'm maybe back to normal. The last chapter sucked, so here's something a bit better. Enjoy, and I'll try and update soon. Read, review. Thanks for sticking with me.


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